Category Archives: Editor’s Picks

Post navigation

Featured

The town of Brownington got a new truck with the help of a $50,000 matching grant from the USDA. From left to right are Brownington road foreman Leonard Messier, Town Clerk Cheryl Galipeau, select board Chairman Beverly White, Misty Sinsigalli of the USDA, grant writer Jan Delaney, and selectman Terry Curtis. Photo by Elizabeth Trail

She’s not a town official. She had never written a grant before, let alone a major one. But when she saw that her town needed money to pay for a new truck, Ms. Delaney learned by doing.

In January, with help from Town Clerk Cheryl Galipeau and former Selectman Dean Perry, Ms. Delaney put in an application to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for a $50,000 community facilities grant.

On June 11, Ms. Delaney’s efforts were rewarded when officials from the USDA came to Brownington….To read the rest of this article, and all the Chronicle‘s stories, subscribe:

Featured

Here, Elka Schumann, whose husband, Peter Schumann, founded the Bread and Puppet Theater, sits next to the museum guard, a wooden figurine. Traditionally, he sleeps in a nightcap in his bed on the bench next to where Ms. Schumann is sitting all winter when the museum is closed, and is woken up each summer for the open house. When he’s on duty he wears a cap. Photo by Nathalie Gagnon-Joseph

copyright the Chronicle June 10, 2015

by Nathalie Gagnon-Joseph

GLOVER — Visitors jammed the lanes around the Bread and Puppet Theater’s grounds here with their cars on Sunday when they came for the museum’s open house.

The theater celebrated the fortieth anniversary of its puppet museum on Sunday with shape note singing, harp music, and mini-plays scattered around the yard.

The smell of garlic from the aioli that was served with Bread and Puppet’s signature sourdough bread permeated the museum.

Visitors could wander through over 40 years worth of big puppets and peruse and purchase posters, pamphlets, and books.

Burt Porter, a Glover poet and musician who has participated in opening the museum yearly since its inception, was given a wooden medal….To read the rest of this article, and all the Chronicle‘s stories, subscribe:

Featured

Yuri the Destroyer, with Lyndon Institute Headmaster Daren Houck at the controls, fires a laser to ignite a ribbon at the opening of The Foundry. Foundry President Jim Schenck (center) and Vice-president Thomas Bishop (right) look on. Photo by Joseph Gresser

copyright the Chronicle June 10, 2015

by Joseph Gresser

LYNDON CENTER — Yuri the Destroyer, a spider-legged robot armed with a laser, stood on a table in front of an unassuming building tucked behind the Lyndon Center post office. At the command of Lyndon Institute Headmaster Daren Houck, Yuri shot a beam of blue light at a crepe paper streamer. After a few seconds the streamer burst into flame.

The ribbon had been cut and on Saturday, June 6, the doors of the Northeast Kingdom’s first maker space, The Foundry, were officially open.

A maker space is a facility….To read the rest of this article, and all the Chronicle‘s stories, subscribe:

Featured

This house trailer was abandoned in Irasburg at the intersection of the West Glover Road and Burton Hill sometime early Monday morning. On its journey from Glover it lost its tires, but ventured on, tearing up the gravel road. Photo by Joseph Gresser

copyright the Chronicle June 3, 2015

by Tena Starr

IRASBURG — Town officials here were flummoxed Monday morning by the appearance of a house trailer at the intersection of the West Glover Road and Burton Hill. Not beside the road — in the road.

Someone had hauled the big yellow trailer there overnight and left it leaning against a telephone pole. That someone had also left quite a mess behind him. The trailer had been dragged for several miles without tires and had badly damaged the gravel road.

The house trailer started its journey in Glover Sunday night, and with tires. It came north on Route 16….To read the rest of this article, and all the Chronicle‘s stories, subscribe:

Featured

Newport Jewelers in Newport was burglarized early Monday morning, the first time that’s happened in the 34 years that Lincoln and Jo-Ann Brooks have owned the store. Photo by Joseph Gresser

copyright the Chronicle June 3, 2015

by Tena Starr

NEWPORT — For the first time in the 34 years that Newport Jewelers has been in business, it’s been burglarized, said Lincoln Brooks, who owns the store with his wife, Jo-Ann.

At 4 a.m. on Monday, someone broke into the store, broke two jewelry cases, and “snatched and ran,” Mr. Brooks said.

He said that, as of Tuesday, they had not yet done an inventory so were not sure exactly what was missing, though he believes it could have been considerably worse.

A press release from the Newport Police Department says police responded to the alarm at 4:08 a.m. When they arrived, they found a broken window, and two display cases were broken “and items strewn about.”

The Main Street burglary was certainly brazen, Mr. Brooks said….To read the rest of this article, and all the Chronicle‘s stories, subscribe:

Featured

From left to right, Riley Sanville, Bruce Reagan, Tyler Lucas, and Curtis Bonneau explain how an anemometer, or wind speed sensor, works while their teacher Zarah Savoie holds up their model and their classmates Jeremy Lapan-Ward and Ben Longley look on. Photo by Nathalie Gagnon-Joseph

copyright the Chronicle June 3, 2015

by Nathalie Gagnon-Joseph

LOWELL — Sixth-grade students at the Lowell Graded School presented a synopsis of their weather unit Tuesday night.

The unit is special because students used a meteorological tower they have in the schoolyard to learn how to predict the weather from data the tools on the tower provide.

Originally, Green Mountain Power used the tower to measure wind in preparation for the wind project here. The utility donated the tower to the school.….To read the rest of this article, and all the Chronicle‘s stories, subscribe:

Featured

Orleans County Deputy Sheriff Phil Brooks with Jeffrey M. Ray of Brownington, who pled innocent in Superior Court Monday to first degree murder. Mr. Ray, who is being held without bail, is accused of shooting another Brownington man, Rick Vreeland, Monday morning. Photo by Joseph Gresser

copyright the Chronicle May 27, 2015

by Tena Starr

NEWPORT — Jeffrey M. Ray, 51, of Brownington pled innocent here Tuesday to first degree murder and was held without bail.

Mr. Ray is accused of shooting and killing Rick Vreeland, 53, his former wife’s husband, on Monday.

Mr. Ray appeared in the Criminal Division of Orleans Superior Court looking the worse for wear. He was hospitalized on Monday as a result of a struggle with his son, who said he tried to take the gun away from Mr. Ray, his father, after Mr. Ray shot Mr. Vreeland, the boy’s stepfather, a police affidavit says.

The shooting apparently wasn’t a big surprise to those who knew the two men. Police affidavits indicate they had been at odds for years. Mr. Ray had repeatedly….To read the rest of this article, and all the Chronicle‘s stories, subscribe:

Featured

A tired firefighter, Alan Quintal of Barton, rests and cools off after coming out of the Union House. Photo by Elizabeth Trail

copyright the Chronicle May 20, 2015

by Elizabeth Trail

GLOVER — The Union House Nursing Home’s 40 residents, who were evacuated Sunday for what was at first thought to be a fire, will be able to start returning on Wednesday, owner Pat Russell said.

“We just had our inspection, and could start filling beds today,” Ms. Russell said Tuesday.

The nursing home’s occupants were speedily evacuated with help from staff, ambulance squads, law enforcement, and community volunteers who pitched in and helped, Ms. Russell said.

For several hours on Sunday afternoon, lights flashed and sirens blared as ambulances, fire trucks, and emergency responders crowded Glover Village responding to a call from the Union House Nursing Home.…To read the rest of this article, and all the Chronicle‘s stories, subscribe:

Featured

Orleans County Sheriff Kirk Martin signs the contract that returns Sheriff’s Department patrols to Glover. The town has been without coverage since the end of March. Select board Chairman Michael Ladd (right) and Selectman Jack Sumberg look on. Photo by Elizabeth Trail

copyright the Chronicle May 20, 2015

by Elizabeth Trail

GLOVER — Orleans County Sheriff Kirk Martin came to the Glover Select Board meeting on Thursday, May 14 to sign the town’s new contract with the Sheriff’s Department.

Following a heated discussion at Town Meeting in March, Glover voters elected not to renew the Sheriff’s Department contract when it expired at the end of March. Eventually, they kept $11,700 that had been budgeted for the Sheriff’s Department and said it should be used for “law enforcement.” They authorized the select board to figure out how to proceed.…To read the rest of this article, and all the Chronicle‘s stories, subscribe:

Featured

Many of those involved in planning AnC Bio help turn over the first shovels of dirt on May 14. From left to right, are Vermont State Aeronautics Administrator Guy Rouelle, Jane Fortin and Cindy Robillard of the state Department of Labor, North Country Career Center Director Ilene Illuzzi, Alex Choi, former CEO of AnC Bio Korea, Jerry Davis of PEAK CM, Newport City Mayor Paul Monette, Ariel Quiros, co-owner of Jay Peak Resort and Mr. Stenger’s partner in AnC Bio, Bob Brown Petersen of NME Pharmaplan, AnC Bio Vermont CEO Ike Lee, Jake Lee, who heads development of artificial organs for AnC Bio, and Bill Stenger, president of Jay Peak Resort. Photo by Joseph Gresser

copyright the Chronicle May 20, 2015

by Joseph Gresser

NEWPORT — The long-delayed groundbreaking for AnC Bio took place under fair skies Thursday morning, May 14. Speakers hailed prospects for the $100-million biomedical facility, which is expected to employ between 400 and 500 people when it’s up and running in a year and a half.

They will include people involved in manufacturing artificial organs, technicians to help run equipment in the clean room suites that will be available for rent by independent researchers, and scientists to perform research on stem cell therapies, said Bill Stenger, president of Jay Peak and one of the principals of AnC Bio Vermont. Mr. Stenger said people with education levels up to post-graduate degrees could find jobs at AnC Bio…To read the rest of this article, and all the Chronicle‘s stories, subscribe: